Educating and Mobilizing Black Communities on Prostate Cancer Issues with Lannis Hall, MD, MPH

At the 2016 African American Prostate Cancer Disparity Summit, Dr. Lannis Hall, MD, MPH, Director of Radiation Oncology at the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital, presented on prostate cancer issues in Black communities. She outlined the need to increase the number of minority people in clinical trials. Dr. Hall explained her shock that, in 2012, the US Preventive Services Task Force used a study that did not have adequate participation of African American men to recommend that all men do not obtain regular PSA screening. That recommendation did not consider the greater risk of prostate cancer in the African American community.

As such, African American men aged 40 and older should obtain regular prostate cancer screenings. Dr. Hall outlined advocacy organizations including 100 Black Men of St. Louis, which provide prostate cancer testing and education.